I edit a lot of documents (journal papers, theses, etc.). Usually I print them out, cover them with red ink, then scan into a pdf file and email it back to the author (graduate student, usually). I don’t want to use ‘track changes’ in Word because I don’t want to actually make changes in the file - the student only learns by manually converting my scribbles into actual edits.
Can anyone recommend a non-paper way to do this? Ideally I would like to open a file on a paper-size tablet, write on the touch screen as easily and legibly as on paper, save directly, then email the file.
Are you using an iPad? There is an app called Notability that allows you to mark up documents. You can use it with another app called Showbie where it can be uploaded and shared with a student.
If you’re only going to use comments, it may be easier to do it on PDFs because you can place the comments exactly where they belong on the document. You don’t end up with the clogged right margin that you get if you use comments in Word.
I tried editing as though on paper by doing everything on iPad (open the pdf in Adobe or any other app like Notability) but I like to write small, and as good as Apple Pencil is as a stylus, it’s still not as good as a real pen. The document needs to be double spaced with wide margins to work at all.
I got used to using MS word track changes and comments instead.
I am in the red pen camp. Track changes becomes unreadable at some point (esp w multiple edits). Sometimes the end proct once you accept changes is no longer cohesive!
You could take a picture and email it you yourself if scanning is a pain.
I have a prof relative who fnally reverted to requiring that student papers be submitted hard copy, not as a file. She found the same editing problems mentioned above and was tired of using her own paper and ink to print students’ work.
Not the non-paper solution you wanted, just letting you know others are also frustrated.
I sometimes have to work with a team editing a single doc at work, and we also use comments in Word. If you’re unfamiliar, you basically highlight the relevant section, select add comment, and type in your note. The section remains highlighted and when you mouse over a little text box with your comment appears. I like it a lot better than typical track-change redlining since you can see the reasoning rather than just the change.
Editing by hand is nice and I still like to do it depending on the circumstance, but as OP noted the downsides are the size and legibility of your handwriting and the size of the margins, and having to physically print and then return the hard copy. Not sure I’d want to do serious editing/commenting on a iPad/tablet unless you have a stylus, keyboard, and a larger screen.
I just want to say “Thank You” to the OP for recognizing that a new generation actually learns best by making the new edits themselves.
It is much more constructive to point out tips that the writer is “wordy”, or even “unnecessary”, or even “weak”. Sometimes you need to give directions like “Prove it” or ask “Why?”
There are a lot of crummy writers out there (said as I point to myself as I recognize I ain’t the best), and teaching kids to edit is often a thankless job.
"It is much more constructive to point out tips that the writer is “wordy”, or even “unnecessary”, or even “weak”. Sometimes you need to give directions like “Prove it” or ask “Why?”
There are a lot of crummy writers out there (said as I point to myself as I recognize I ain’t the best), and teaching kids to edit is often a thankless job."
These are EXACTLY the kind of editing issues best raised with the track changes “Comments” function rather than a red pen.
(Referring just to pen on paper) When I taught undergrads, one of my mentors — a professor who was very effective and well-liked instructor — advised me to never use a red pen. Go with green or purple, he said. It’s kinder. I have never used a red pen for comments and corrections since!
My Clinical Pastoral Education instructor responded to our weekly reflection papers on Word by underlining and changing the color of comments he wanted to respond to. Then he would write his comments -also in color- in parentheses at the end of a sentence or paragraph. Then email it back to us.
I’ve done pen and ink (I used a variety of colors, including red), tablet with markup in a PDF app, and Track Changes in Word. I think Track Changes is probably the best way to do edits on a student paper, with the tablet markup being second.
With regular pen and ink, I found that my comments to students were often shorter and less helpful because writing them was more laborious than doing it with a keyboard. “Wordy” isn’t really as helpful to a student as “Consider cutting out most of this sentence and half the next.” I’d rather write “You can strengthen this by adding some evidence from your sources” than “weak”, because that gives the student a starting point on which to improve their paper. I also then had to return all of those papers in hard copy back to the student and it was harder for them to translate the notes to the paper they were writing on a computer.
The tablet eliminated the last problem. The problem I had with using a tablet and doing markup is that I either had to switch back and forth between stylus and keyboard to write comments I liked (or, I could write short comments with the stylus, same problem as with the pen.) The markup was more in the style I liked, though - there’s something nice about sitting down with a pen or stylus and paper or tablet and marking. It’s more portable and I could do it on public transit.
For the students, though, Track Changes was the best. I could make suggested edits directly in the paper and add a comment explaining why they worked better; the student could see exactly how I changed what using All Markup, and the comment feature was great for adding those longer comments about what they needed to fix.
If you do choose either of the first options, definitely require double-spaced.